I've given myself plenty of time - over two weeks -- to observe and get my thoughts together regarding the choice of Alaskan governor Sarah Palin as Senator John McCain's vice-presidential running mate. My conclusion is this: she's nothing more than a gimmick pick.
Merriam-Webster provides five definitions for the word "gimmick," and I prefer the fifth one: "a trick or device used to attract business or attention" (i.e. Gov. Palin).
I watched the speech that she gave when she was first introduced as McCain's running mate, and I heard her say four things:
1 - Vote for me because I'm a Republican.
2 - Vote for me because I'm a woman.
3 - Vote for me because my son is going to Iraq.
4 - Vote for me because I have a husband and five children.
Yeah, it's pretty thin.
I also watched her acceptance speech at the GOP convention, where she said all of those same things again, but added the sentiment that anyone who spends a few years of their 20s trying to better a community is pretty pathetic. I'm glad she cleared that up.
Yeah, it doesn't get much thicker. Sorry.
Now, there has been a lot of talk about whether or not Sarah Palin is being an irresponsible parent for choosing to run for the vice-presidency while trying to raise her 5 children, including her youngest who has special needs. Some say its sexist; others say its fair game. I say that I'm sure it can be done. If it were a man running for vice-president with 5 children including a child with special needs, no one would say anything. That's just how this country is, and we should work to change it.
However, I will argue right here that I think Sarah Palin is being an irresponsible parent for choosing to run for vice-president while her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant. I'm not going to point fingers and say that Sarah Palin won't be able to govern properly if she can't even control her own child -- things happen, everyone makes mistakes, and some mistakes are just worse than others. But I will rip Sarah Palin for choosing to make her daughter's mistake national news in order to further her own political career. Parents are supposed to protect their children from as much as they can, but Gov. Palin has chosen to throw her daughter into the fire that is a national presidential campaign for her own benefit. That's pretty despicable. And furthermore, the campaign argues that families are off-limits, and the first thing that Sarah Palin does when she accepts the vice-presidential nomination is highlight her wonderful family. Go figure.
And so the more time Gov. Sarah Palin spends on the trail and in the news, it becomes more and more obvious that Alaskan politicians are the same as all other American politicians -- lies and misleading truths. She claims that she put an end to the "Bridge To Nowhere." Not true -- she was for it before she was against it, and not until congress had put an end to it. But she kept the money. She loves to say that she put the private government jet on eBay. True, but it didn't sell on eBay, and it ended up being sold by a broker, for a loss (not for a profit, as John McCain claims).
And to John McCain, why would you ever in the name of all things sane and holy choose a running mate who is under investigation? You've been in Washington for 26 years and you haven't figured out that politics is perception? What have you been doing all this time?
In the end, we need to be clear that traditionally the vice-president of the United States has no duties of any real importance (with the exception of Dick Cheney, who actually runs the country). The only real duty of the vice-president is to be ready to take the reigns of the country should something awful happen to the president that would prevent him from doing his job. This choice, therefore, is the first public decision of a presidential candidate's would-be presidency, and goes specifically to their judgment. So, you have to look at each candidate's VP pick as their answer to this hypothetical question: Suppose as president, you are assassinated. The American public is in shock and needs leadership; the government needs stability; and the perpetrators of the attack need to be identified and brought to justice. In this situation, who would you choose to be the person who has to step up and immediately fill the role of president during a time of such crisis?
Sen. Obama's answer? Sen. Joe Biden. Say all you want about the a "candidate of change" selecting someone with so much time in Washington as his #2, but when put into the context of the situation described above, it makes much more sense.
Sen. McCain's answer? Gov. Sarah....Palin? The governor of Alaska? To step in at a moment's notice to take control of the most difficult and complex job in the history of mankind? Yeah, it really is that ridiculous.
That's not "Country First."
That's "Campaign First, Country Second."
Merriam-Webster provides five definitions for the word "gimmick," and I prefer the fifth one: "a trick or device used to attract business or attention" (i.e. Gov. Palin).
I watched the speech that she gave when she was first introduced as McCain's running mate, and I heard her say four things:
1 - Vote for me because I'm a Republican.
2 - Vote for me because I'm a woman.
3 - Vote for me because my son is going to Iraq.
4 - Vote for me because I have a husband and five children.
Yeah, it's pretty thin.
I also watched her acceptance speech at the GOP convention, where she said all of those same things again, but added the sentiment that anyone who spends a few years of their 20s trying to better a community is pretty pathetic. I'm glad she cleared that up.
Yeah, it doesn't get much thicker. Sorry.
Now, there has been a lot of talk about whether or not Sarah Palin is being an irresponsible parent for choosing to run for the vice-presidency while trying to raise her 5 children, including her youngest who has special needs. Some say its sexist; others say its fair game. I say that I'm sure it can be done. If it were a man running for vice-president with 5 children including a child with special needs, no one would say anything. That's just how this country is, and we should work to change it.
However, I will argue right here that I think Sarah Palin is being an irresponsible parent for choosing to run for vice-president while her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant. I'm not going to point fingers and say that Sarah Palin won't be able to govern properly if she can't even control her own child -- things happen, everyone makes mistakes, and some mistakes are just worse than others. But I will rip Sarah Palin for choosing to make her daughter's mistake national news in order to further her own political career. Parents are supposed to protect their children from as much as they can, but Gov. Palin has chosen to throw her daughter into the fire that is a national presidential campaign for her own benefit. That's pretty despicable. And furthermore, the campaign argues that families are off-limits, and the first thing that Sarah Palin does when she accepts the vice-presidential nomination is highlight her wonderful family. Go figure.
And so the more time Gov. Sarah Palin spends on the trail and in the news, it becomes more and more obvious that Alaskan politicians are the same as all other American politicians -- lies and misleading truths. She claims that she put an end to the "Bridge To Nowhere." Not true -- she was for it before she was against it, and not until congress had put an end to it. But she kept the money. She loves to say that she put the private government jet on eBay. True, but it didn't sell on eBay, and it ended up being sold by a broker, for a loss (not for a profit, as John McCain claims).
And to John McCain, why would you ever in the name of all things sane and holy choose a running mate who is under investigation? You've been in Washington for 26 years and you haven't figured out that politics is perception? What have you been doing all this time?
In the end, we need to be clear that traditionally the vice-president of the United States has no duties of any real importance (with the exception of Dick Cheney, who actually runs the country). The only real duty of the vice-president is to be ready to take the reigns of the country should something awful happen to the president that would prevent him from doing his job. This choice, therefore, is the first public decision of a presidential candidate's would-be presidency, and goes specifically to their judgment. So, you have to look at each candidate's VP pick as their answer to this hypothetical question: Suppose as president, you are assassinated. The American public is in shock and needs leadership; the government needs stability; and the perpetrators of the attack need to be identified and brought to justice. In this situation, who would you choose to be the person who has to step up and immediately fill the role of president during a time of such crisis?
Sen. Obama's answer? Sen. Joe Biden. Say all you want about the a "candidate of change" selecting someone with so much time in Washington as his #2, but when put into the context of the situation described above, it makes much more sense.
Sen. McCain's answer? Gov. Sarah....Palin? The governor of Alaska? To step in at a moment's notice to take control of the most difficult and complex job in the history of mankind? Yeah, it really is that ridiculous.
That's not "Country First."
That's "Campaign First, Country Second."
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